40 YEARS IN AFRICA

After building the first partnership houses in Americus, Ga., in the early 1970s, Millard and Linda Fuller decided to test the model in Africa. Moving with their four children into the heart of Zaire (Congo) in 1973, they built 114 houses over the next three years. Recognizing the success of their grand affordable housing experiment, when they returned to America in 1976 they launched a new organization: Habitat for Humanity. In 2005, they continued their grass-roots vision by launching The Fuller Center for Housing.

In 2011 we visited that original community in the Congo, and we found a clean, well-kept neighborhood! We even chatted with a family living in same home since the Fullers left. It had since become a home also for her seven children and now a few grandchildren.

Africa is not just the birthplace of the world’s affordable housing movement — it is also the place that most desperately needs its work. The Fuller Center for Housing is marking 40 years of this movement with a special building initiative focused on the land where it all began. We’re going to build 40 homes with our partners in Africa.